All Blacks turn on style to thump Wallabies 51-20 in Auckland, retaining the Bledisloe Cup

MASSACRE. The fierce Blacklash was without mercy in Auckland on Saturday night when the Wallabies were hammered into their Eden Park grave with such contempt that it may be another 28 years before they win there.

Bye-bye Bledisloe for another year was the funeral march that should send shivers down the spines of the Wallabies because they are as far away as ever from winning back the previous silverware they have not held since 2002.

The 51-20 pummelling delivered by the All Blacks shouted a message over every fallen Wallaby body trying to make a tackle or caught out by wave after wave of All Black raiders.

“Fading are we?” Crunch. “Losing our mojo?” Cop another try. The Wallabies were smashed and 33-year-old titan Richie McCaw could leer more than anyone. He scored back-to-back tries midway through the second half in bulldozing pack drives to turn it into a rout after his sinbinning of the first half.

No win at Eden Park since Kylie Minogue was first getting steamy on Neighbours in 1986 has turned Test visits to Auckland into Australia’s longest running soap opera.

Downcast fullback Israel Folau was forced to admit closing the gap on the All Blacks was still a mirage.

“For sure, it’s one of the most disappointing games of my whole football career,” Folau said.

“We’re still really confident within the group but with the result tonight it obviously seems that the gap is still pretty big.

“The All Blacks have been a great team for a long time but there was no urgency shown when they scored back-to-back tries. Simple mistakes and easy turnovers let us down. You string some good points together and it all came too late.”

McCaw more than made up for his yellow card.Source:Getty Images

The agony of another squandered Bledisloe campaign was the 14-0 rupture in the first half when the Wallabies were reduced to 14 men by the sinbinning of lock Rob Simmons.

The All Blacks dismantled a seven-man Wallabies scrum for a penalty try and then danced away on an 80m counter-attack try for winger Julian Savea when the wasteful Aussies coughed up the ball when on full attack.

Instead of turning a scintillating counter-attack run over 50m from Folau into a try, lock Sam Carter coughed up the ball out wide, the All Blacks pounced and Savea was gone. So was the Bledisloe Cup.

It was clinical. It was the same old script. It was the All Blacks at their primal Eden Park best as giants above the mortals as they knocked the wind from another Wallabies challenge. It is 15 straight losses now at Eden Park and 10,213 days and counting since the Wallabies last win there over the Kiwis.

All the expectation of a golden glory night dissipated as a tight 9-6 contest blew out to 23-6. It was 44-6 before the All Blacks declared with 20 minutes to play.

Most tellingly, the All Blacks did what the Wallabies could not against 14 men.

The side chasing could generate nothing on the scoreboard when All Blacks skipper McCaw was binned in the 12th minute for a professional foul for interfering with Michael Hooper’s clearance of the ball from a ruck.

“The All Blacks made a statement to themselves more than anyone else that they weren’t a spent force,” former All Black Ian Jones said.

They lifted and organised with McCaw off and soared when he returned.

Kurtley Beale’s pot for the penalty goal and 6-all was all the Wallabies could squeeze from their 10 minutes of advantage.

The writing was written on the wall in a bizarre game of musical chairs. The sin bin chair was still warm as the desolate Simmons (dangerous play in a maul) trotted to it and McCaw ran back on.

The Aussies were brave when Nic White was mopping up a dangerous kick and Slipper was chopping down a winger but they were outclassed.

The ferocity of the tackling in the early exchanges showed how much the night meant because the full house winced just as James Slipper did when crunched by Richie McCaw or when Matt Toomua wrapped up Aaron Cruden.

There was a ball-running intent to the All Blacks from the whistle that was never there in the wet of Sydney. It only emphasised the greatest foreboding out that 12-all draw...the Wallabies blew their best chance and the All Blacks don’t give you a second.

Relive all the action from our live blog below and check out Match Centre for live stats and video!